How to send a gallery link by text message

How to send a gallery link by text: a 3-sentence message, the link on its own line, the password sent separately, what the preview shows, and the email that follows.

Send the gallery link by text in a message of 3 sentences with the link on its own line, send the password in a separate message straight after, and follow with the full delivery email the same day. The text gets the gallery opened within minutes; the email is the record the couple will search for in 6 months when they need the password again.

The message

Text 1:

“Hi Emma and Dan, your wedding gallery is ready. Grab a coffee, sit down together, and open this on a laptop if you can, it is 700 photos. https://galleries.example.com/emma-and-dan”

Text 2, sent right after, with nothing else in it:

“password: rowanbarn”

That is it. No instructions about downloading, no print release, no reminder about expiry. Those go in the email. A text is for the moment of opening, and a long text gets skimmed.

Three rules inside that:

The link is on its own line. Not mid-sentence, not followed by a period. Messaging apps include the punctuation in the link, and a link with a period stuck on the end is a dead page.
The password is a separate message. If the couple forwards the link to a parent, the password does not travel with it unless they choose to send it. And if the gallery has no password, skip text 2.
No shortened links. A shortened link looks like spam, shows no preview, and stops working when the shortener does. The gallery’s own link is fine at any length.

If the gallery has a download PIN as well, that is a third message, sent when the couple asks how to download or in the email, not in the first text. A PIN in the opening text gets confused with the password within the hour.

What the preview looks like

When a link sits alone on a line, most messaging apps fetch a preview card: an image and a title from the page. For a gallery, that is usually the cover photo and the couple’s names. So the couple sees their own cover before they tap. That is the reason to put the link on its own line, and the reason to check the cover on a phone before sending. How to choose a gallery cover photo covers the crop; the preview card is a small square or rectangle cut from it.

What can go wrong with the preview:

It takes a few seconds to appear, and if the couple taps before it loads, nothing is wrong.
A password-protected gallery may show a generic card or no image, because the preview fetcher cannot get past the password. That is normal.
A link with punctuation stuck to it shows no preview and opens an error.
In group texts and on some Android apps, the preview may not render at all. The link still works.

Do not send a screenshot of the cover as a separate image in case the preview fails. It arrives as a photo in their camera roll, and it teaches them to save screenshots instead of downloading.

When a text is right

Delivery day. The couple has been waiting weeks; a text reaches them at lunch, an email reaches them tonight.
Sneak peeks. A few photos the week after the wedding are made for a text.
A reminder before expiry. One sentence and the link.
A resend. When the email went to spam, or the couple is standing in front of a parent who wants to see the photos now.

When a text is wrong: as the only delivery. A text has no subject line and gets pushed off the screen by the next 40 messages. Couples lose the link within a month. Without the email, they lose the password too.

The follow-up email

Send it the same day, from the gallery platform if it has a delivery email, otherwise from your own address. It contains everything the text left out:

The link, again.
The password, and the download PIN if there is one.
Which download to use for what: web size for phones, full resolution for printing.
The expiry date, in words.
The print release, or where to find it.
One line asking for credit if they post.
One line about prints, if you sell them.

Gallery delivery email templates has the full email in 3 lengths. In FOCL Galleries, Send to couple sends an editable template with the password and PIN filled in, and you can preview the exact email before it goes; the help center covers it under publish and send.

Timing

Send between 10 AM and 7 PM in the couple’s time zone. A text at 11:30 PM either wakes them or gets read half-asleep and forgotten. Weekday lunchtime works well: they open it at their desk, they text each other, and they sit down with it that evening. Friday afternoon is also good, since the weekend is when they show family.

Do not send the day before they travel, or during the week they have said they are moving house. Ask when you confirm the delivery date, and if they say “any time”, pick a Tuesday.

Parents and guests

Do not text the link to parents unless the couple has asked you to. The couple forwards it, and the forwarding is part of their pleasure. If they ask you to send it to a parent, use the same 2-message format, and say who you are in the first line, because the parent does not have your number saved: “Hi Linda, this is Sam, Emma and Dan’s photographer. They asked me to send you the gallery.” How to share wedding photos with parents and family covers what the parents do next.

Guests get the link from the couple, never from you, unless the gallery is a public one the couple has asked you to share.

If they say it does not open

Ask for a screenshot, the device, and the message forwarded back to you. Almost always it is the punctuation stuck to the link, the PIN typed as the password, or an in-app browser. Gallery link troubleshooting has the full checklist. Resend the link alone, on its own line, and it usually opens on the second try.